Salvadoran Woman Wrongfully Imprisoned Shares Her Story with U.N. Committee

02.13.17 - (PRESS RELEASE) A Salvadoran woman who was wrongfully imprisoned
after an obstetric emergency and later absolved and released in 2015 spoke to a
United Nations committee about the mistreatment of pregnant women in El
Salvador and the human rights abuses resulting from the country’s extreme
abortion ban.

Carmen Guadalupe Vasquez
Aldana (“Guadalupe”) shared her story with the United Nations Committee on the
Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)—the principal international
human rights body charged with ensuring the realization of women’s rights in
states across the globe. Her testimony is part of a review of El Salvador’s
human rights record occurring this week in Geneva, Switzerland.

Prior to the CEDAW review,
the Center for Reproductive Rights submitted a joint report[2] with Agrupación Ciudadana[3] and Debevoise & Plimpton[4] LLP to CEDAW
detailing how El Salvador’s total abortion ban is leading to discrimination
against women by health professionals and law enforcement, and has resulted in
the prosecution of more than 17 innocent women (“Las 17”) who are currently
serving prison sentences of up to 40 years after suffering from
pregnancy-related complications.

Said Catalina Martínez Coral,
regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean at the Center:

“Guadalupe
represented the women of El Salvador today, showing strength and courage before
the U.N. Committee.

“The committee must
now support Guadalupe by calling on El Salvador to right the wrongs for the
remaining women who are wrongfully imprisoned and to pass legislation that
decriminalizes abortion.”

For nearly two decades, El
Salvador has criminalized abortion in all circumstances—even when necessary to
save a woman’s life—imposing harsh criminal penalties on both women and
physicians. The ban has resulted in the imprisonment of countless women who
have suffered pregnancy-related complications and miscarriages, who are then
charged for having an abortion and wrongfully convicted of homicide.

In 2007, Guadalupe became
pregnant after she was raped and months later she suffered an obstetric
emergency, when she fell unconscious and had a stillbirth. She woke up in a
hospital where she learned that medical staff reported her to the police on
suspicion of obtaining an induced abortion. In February 2008 she was sentenced
to 30 years in prison on charges of aggravated homicide. After the Center and
Agrupación Ciudadana raised awareness in the local government and with the
United Nations, Guadalupe was pardoned and freed in February 2015 after the
Salvadoran Supreme Court found serious due process violations in her
case.

“I spoke today for
Las 17 and in hopes that our stories will not be repeated in El Salvador,” said Guadalupe. “It’s time that my country end
the persecution of pregnant women.”

In October 2016, former
president of the Salvadoran Congress, Lorena Peña introduced an amendment to
the country’s penal code that, if passed, would decriminalize abortion in cases
of rape and when a pregnancy puts the health or life of a woman at risk. The
amendment received wide support from the Alliance for the Health and Life of
Women (la Alianza por la Salud y la Vida de Las Mujeres)—a coalition of more
than 30 human rights organizations and international human rights activists
including Agrupación Ciudadana.

The Center for Reproductive
Rights has worked to expose the consequences that El Salvador’s total abortion
ban has on the lives of women. The Center together with the Agrupación Ciudadana
filed a case in December 2015 before the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights– a principal human rights body for the Americas—on behalf of nine
women[5] who had serious pregnancy complications and are now in prison due to
the severe enforcement of El Salvador’s absolute abortion ban.

In December 2014, a coalition
of NGOs led by Agrupación Ciudadana and the Center for Reproductive Rights,
launched the “Las17[6]”
online campaign calling for the release of “Guadalupe” and 16 other Salvadoran
women who all suffered obstetric emergencies, were charged for having an
abortion and were later convicted of homicide. “Mirna,” one of “Las 17,” was
released in December 2014 after serving her prison sentence before her pardon
could be finalized. In February 2015, Guadalupe was successfully released and
pardoned, after serving seven years in prison. And in May 2016, Maria
Teresa[7] was released after a judge ruled that there were violations of due
process in her case. The remaining women are each currently serving 30-40 year
sentences for crimes they never committed.